Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor device including a logic transistor, a non-volatile memory (NVM) cell and a contact etching stop layer (CESL) is shown. The CESL includes a first silicon nitride layer on the logic transistor but not on the NVM cell, a silicon oxide layer on the first silicon nitride layer and on the NVM cell, and a second silicon nitride layer disposed on the silicon oxide layer over the logic transistor and disposed on the silicon oxide layer on the NVM cell.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of Invention

This invention relates to an integrated circuit (IC), and particularlyrelates to a semiconductor device for a memory-including integratedcircuit, and to a method for fabricating the same.

Description of Related Art

A non-volatile memory (NVM) or an NVM-embedded IC has logic transistorsand flash memory cells therein. For the logic transistor and the NVMcell are different kinds of elements, they have differentcharacteristics, and are difficult to integrate in a manner such thatthe requirements of both of them are met.

An example of such differences lies on the requirements on the contactetching stop layer (CESL), which is usually also given a function ofapplying stress to improve the performance of elements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, this invention provides a semiconductor device in which alogic transistor and a NVM cell are integrated well considering theirrequirements on CESL.

This invention also provides a method for fabricating the semiconductordevice of this invention.

The semiconductor device of this invention includes a logic transistor,an NVM cell and a CESL is shown. The CESL includes a first siliconnitride (SiN) layer on the logic transistor but not on the NVM cell, asilicon oxide layer on the first SiN layer and on the NVM cell, and asecond SiN layer disposed on the silicon oxide layer over the logictransistor and disposed on the silicon oxide layer on the NVM cell.

The method for fabricating the semiconductor device of this invention isdescribed below. A substrate having a logic transistor and an NVM cellis provided. A CESL is then formed, including the following steps. Afirst SiN layer is formed on the logic transistor but not on the NVMcell. A silicon oxide layer is formed on the first SiN layer and on theNVM cell. A 2^(nd) SiN layer is formed on the silicon oxide layer overthe logic transistor, and also on the silicon oxide layer on the NVMcell.

Since the first SiN layer in the CESL is formed on the logic transistor,sufficient stress can be applied to the latter to well improve theperformance there. Meanwhile, since the first SiN layer is not formed onthe NVM cell while the silicon oxide having less stress is formed on thesame, the data retention capability of the NVM cell is not adverselyaffected.

In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features andadvantages of the present invention comprehensible, a preferredembodiment accompanied with figures is described in detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a semiconductor device according to a firstembodiment of this invention where the NVM cell includes a single-polyNVM (SPNVM) cell.

FIG. 2 illustrates a semiconductor device according to a secondembodiment of this invention where the NVM cell includes a cell having acharge trapping layer or a cell having a stack of a floating gate and acontrol gate.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

This invention will be further explained with the following embodimentand the accompanying drawings, which are not intended to restrict thescope of this invention. For example, although the SPNVM cell beingexemplified in the first embodiment has a structure as illustrated inFIG. 1, the SPNVM cell in this invention may alternatively have twoserially connected MOS transistors.

FIG. 1 illustrates a semiconductor device according to the firstembodiment of this invention where the NVM cell includes an SPNVM cell.

Referring to FIG. 1, the semiconductor device includes an SPNVM cell 10and a logic transistor 12. The SPNVM cell 10 includes a gate dielectriclayer 102, a floating gate 106 a covering the gate dielectric layer 102,doped regions 108 a serving as a control gate in the substrate 100beside a portion of the floating gate 106 a, and source/drain (S/D)regions 108 b in the substrate 100 beside another portion of thefloating gate 106 a. The logic transistor 12 includes a gate dielectriclayer 104 that may be formed simultaneously with the gate dielectriclayer 102 of the SPNVM cell 10, a gate 106 b that is formed on the gatedielectric layer 104 simultaneously with the floating gate 106 a of theSPNVM cell 10, and S/D regions 110 that may be formed simultaneouslywith the doped regions 108 a and the S/D regions 108 b of the SPNVM cell10. A self-aligned silicide (salicide) layer 112 may be formed on thegate 106 b and the S/D regions 110 of the logic transistor 12.

A CESL 120 is formed on the above structure, including a first SiN layer122 on the logic transistor 12 but not on the SPNVM cell 10, a siliconoxide layer 124 on the first SiN layer 122 and on the SPNVM cell 10, anda second SiN layer 126 disposed on the silicon oxide layer 124 over thelogic transistor 12 and disposed on the silicon oxide layer 124 on theNVM cell 10. The CESL 120 can be formed, after the above structure isprovided, by steps comprising: forming the first SiN layer 122 on thelogic transistor 12 but not on the SPNVM cell 10, forming the siliconoxide layer 124 on the first SiN layer 122 and on the SPNVM cell 10, andforming the second SiN layer 126 on the silicon oxide layer 124 over thelogic transistor 12, and also on the silicon oxide layer 124 on the NVMcell 10. An inter-layer dielectric (ILD) layer 130 is then formedcovering the resulting structure.

The first SiN layer 122 may have been subjected to UV-curing to serve asa stress film capable of improving the performance of logic transistor12. The thickness of the first SiN layer 122 may be in the range of 400to 700 angstroms. The silicon oxide layer 124 may be formed with PECVD.The thickness of the silicon oxide layer 124 may be in the range of 200to 400 angstroms. The thickness of the second SiN layer 126 may be inthe range of 200 to 400 angstroms. The ILD layer 130 usually includessilicon oxide.

This invention may also be applied to an IC structure includes a logictransistor and another kind of NVM cell, such as an NVM cell having acharge trapping layer or an NVM cell having a stack of a floating gateand a control gate, as illustrated in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 2, the semiconductor device includes an NVM cell 20and a logic transistor 22. It is noted that the parts thereof in thesubstrate are omitted for simplicity. The NVM cell 10 includes a chargestorage structure 202, a control gate 206 on the charge storagestructure 202, and so on. The charge storage structure 202 may havetherein a charge trapping layer, which possibly includes SiN and isusually sandwiched between insulating layers. When the substrateincludes silicon, the charge trapping layer includes SiN, the insulatinglayers include silicon oxide and the control gate 206 includes silicon,the NVM cell 10 becomes a well-known SONOS cell.

The charge storage structure 202 may alternatively have therein afloating gate that is separated from the control gate 206 and thesubstrate by insulating layers. The logic transistor 22 includes a gatedielectric layer 204 that is usually formed after the charge storagestructure 202 that includes a charge trapping layer, a gate 208 on thegate dielectric layer 204, and so on.

A salicide layer 210 may be formed on parts of the NVM cell 20 and thelogic transistor 22, including the control gate 206 of the NVM cell 20and the gate 208 of the logic transistor 22.

Referring to FIG. 2 again, a CESL 120 having the aforementionedstructure is formed on the above structure, with the aforementionedmethod after the above structure is provided. An ILD layer 130 is thenformed covering the resulting structure.

In the above embodiments of this invention, since the first SiN layer inthe CESL is formed on the logic transistor, sufficient stress can beapplied to the latter to well improve the performance there. Meanwhile,since the first SiN layer is not formed on the SPNVM cell or the NVMcell having a charge trapping layer or having a stack of a floating gateand a control gate while the silicon oxide having less stress is formedon the same, the data retention capability of the NVM cell is notadversely affected.

This invention has been disclosed above in the preferred embodiments,but is not limited to those. It is known to persons skilled in the artthat some modifications and innovations may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of this invention. Hence, the scope of thisinvention should be defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A semiconductor device, comprising: a logictransistor; a non-volatile memory (NVM) cell; and a contact etching stoplayer (CESL), comprising: a first silicon nitride layer on the logictransistor but not on the NVM cell; a silicon oxide layer on the firstsilicon nitride layer and on the NVM cell; and a second silicon nitridelayer disposed on the silicon oxide layer over the logic transistor anddisposed on the silicon oxide layer on the NVM cell.
 2. Thesemiconductor device of claim 1, wherein the NVM cell comprises asingle-poly non-volatile memory (SPNVM) cell.
 3. The semiconductordevice of claim 1, wherein the NVM cell comprises a memory cellcomprising a charge trapping layer.
 4. The semiconductor device of claim3, wherein the charge trapping layer comprises a silicon nitride film.5. The semiconductor device of claim 4, wherein the memory cellcomprising the charge trapping layer comprises asilicon/oxide/nitride/oxide/silicon (SONOS) cell.
 6. The semiconductordevice of claim 1, wherein the NVM cell comprises a memory cell having astack of a floating gate and a control gate.
 7. The semiconductor deviceof claim 1, further comprising a self-aligned silicide (salicide) layerformed on the logic transistor and the NVM cell, wherein the firstsilicon nitride layer is also on the salicide layer formed on the logictransistor, and the silicon oxide layer is also on the salicide layerformed on the NVM cell.